2013 - Panyu, Guangdong, China (II)

DAY 24 – October 2, 2013 - Biking with my family

In the morning, I went biking with my family at Dafushan Forest Park (大夫山森林公園), located at Panyu (番禺). A lot of bicycle rentals are available. You can feel the fresh air. You have to go early in the morning. We arrived at around 10AM. It was already crowded. We stayed there for about 2 hours. When we left the park, there were even more people coming in. It is usually less crowded during normal days. Besides ordinary people, there were also professional bikers training themselves with their team . There was one thing I did not like: many of the ordinary people do not know how to bike appropriately; they were blocking the roads. For example, if you are a slow biker, you should ride on the right hand side. In addition, they stopped at anywhere instead of on the side. Another situation can be shown as a few friends biking together side by side. Anyhow, I had fun!

Finally, I went to my village: 鍾村. It is located besides Dafushan Forest Park. I discovered family members which I have never met before. Apparently, I have a lot of cousins. I only met 2 of them. One of my grandfather’s sisters has fourteen children in their family. I am not able to count the amount of cousins I have. For lunch, we ate fresh vegetables, fish and meat.

We also drank bee wine (approx. 42%). Apparently, this drink is good for health. What surprised me was the drinking tolerance of one of my aunts. I have never seen such an old lady remaining in normal consciousness after chugging many shots of alcohol.

Following lunch, we visited my cousins’ home.

This evening, we had supper at Bing Sheng, Guangzhou. My cousins came out to town for us. Happiness! We drank Chinese white wine, slightly above 50%.

Following supper, I went to play mah-jong with my aunt and my cousins up to I can't recall the time in the morning. This was my first time playing outside with an automatic mixer table. Usually, either I play at my friends’ home or I invite them over my place.

2013 - Shanghai & Guangzhou

DAY 22 - September 30, 2013 - Homemade Food.

Goodbye SH! I had to catch the plane to head back to my home city, Guangzhou. I took the taxi to the Hong Qiao International Airport (SHA). There are 2 airports in Shanghai. The other one is located in Pudong: Pudong International Airport (PVG).

Tonight’s supper was my first home made meal, cooked by my uncle. Since my arrival in China, I have eaten each meal outside. I felt so comfortable eating at home with my family.

DAY 23 - October 1, 2013 – National Day

Today is the National Day. Students and most of the workers have 1 week off. During this break, workers either return to their home/ village or go in vacations within China. Students have to study.

Today, I finally met my cousin James. I had lunch with my family from my mother side:

In the afternoon, I visited Conghua (从化). I went to see the new development of housing. The design is inspired by the Western architecture. I discovered my dream house: a combination of Chinese and Western style. Most of the houses are built in condo style or at least a twin house. There is no unique house due to the large population.

(Pictures to come)

For dinner, we had fresh vegetables and fish. It has a camping feeling. There is a small river where children play inside.

(Pictures to come)

Candy Cane Cookies

Info
Prep Time: 25 min
Cooking Time: 12 min
Makes: a couple dozen, depending on size
Source: Laura Vitale @Laura in the Kitchen

What You Need
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
1/4 tsp of Salt
3/4 cup of Unsalted Butter at room temperature
1 cup of Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
3/4 tsp of Peppermint Extract
Red Food Coloring

Make It
1) In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, CREAM together the butter and sugar, ADD the eggs and vanilla, peppermint extract and continue to MIX for about 1 minute.

2) ADD the flour, salt and baking powder and MIX it all in until it's combined. DIVIDE the dough in half and to one half, ADD some red food coloring (add enough to get the color you’re looking for) then WRAP them in plastic wrap and REFRIGERATE the dough for about an hour.

3) Take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, PREHEAT the oven to 375 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

4) Take a about a 2 inch piece of dough from each disk (one red piece and one white) and FORM into a 6 inch rope, lay them side by side, pinching both ends and twist them lightly.

5) Place them on your baking sheet making sure to curve the tops so they look like candy canes. BAKE for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges and allow them to cool completely.

My Comments
Thank you to my friend Sharon for sharing the recipe. I refrigerated the dough overnight. I did not use the peppermint extract; it is optional.